Pokémon Go ™… talk about candidate short markets…

I know… I know… a blatant attempt to increase readers by referencing perceived current pop culture… sue me.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock recently you will know all about this Pokémon Go™ craze… right? Most of you will have a strong opinion on the phenomenon… varying from how the hell can grown adults waste so much time chasing mythical creatures in a virtual universe?… to… how can I make up an excuse to leave the office to catch the fabled Zapdos at the corner of Collins & Elizabeth St?

But let’s go back a few lines for a moment…

How the hell can grown adults waste so much time chasing mythical creatures in a virtual universe?…

It makes not one iota of sense does it? I mean… who in their right mind would spend hours… searching for… and trying to apprehend creatures so rare… and so skilled… that everyone wants them? It’s a futile and frustrating existence. See where I’m going here?

Yes that’s right recruiters… It’s an existence many of us live in our workplace every single day.

Every client has engaged you to search for, and capture a perfect fit for their business. Quite often they have engaged multiple recruiters and are even spending time searching themselves. They may have an internal team on the hunt as well. And… they have access to a myriad of in app purchases to make their task easier. It’s a dog eat dog world out there. A competitive, time sucking… and often soul-destroying environment.

Good recruitment… like good Pokémon™ Go hunting is reliant on 5 key factors:

Skill – Do you know what you are doing out there? Both intuitively and learned. What I mean is do you have what it takes to think like a recruiter? And are you continuing to learn?

Tools – Do you have access to appropriate tools? The cheats if you like? What type of ATS, CRM are you using? Are you making use of Social Media appropriately? What about the myriad of marketing based sourcing tools around areas like Video, Boolean search etc…

Network – You need to be an expert in your sector and be connected to every person in that sector.

Time & Timing – Do you have the time to dedicate to being successful on a search? Not only that… are you using that time effectively?

Luck – The most elusive and valuable of all commodities… some people say you make your own luck in recruitment… and life. I disagree… but if you put enough effort into the 4 other areas you may find the luck falls your way.

As recruiters we are all playing the game. Some of us are better than others… most of us are still learning everyday. Maybe recruiters should be assigned a level and be KPI’d on reaching next level achievements? What I am sure of is that if many of us put the effort into our recruitment endeavours… that the keenest of Pokémon™ Goer’s put into their craft we would become infinitely better…

Moral of today’s post… Work smarter… and harder. Oh… and don’t diss the Pokémon Goer’s… they’re not that different from us you know…